Opened Mind
by Artemismoon91904
Summary: After suffering a traumatic brain injury, Percy acquires strange abilities like a photographic memory and a much improved intellect. The Asperger's that comes with it is less than preferable, and the changes in his personality cause a rift in his relationship with Annabeth. How he goes on with his life is his call. STUFF: Genius!Percy, Autistic!Percy, Percabeth, NOT highschool AU
1. Exposition

**Not my first PJO/HoO fic, but my first on this site. I don't think this is a very popular idea, but I couldn't find it anywhere so I decided to write it myself. Mainly this is an experiment for me to see if Percabeth still works when subject to extreme chance. Possibly. Percy will obviously be OOC but still as canon as I can make him. This chapter is more of an expository one, but there is some action. Italics is a flashback.**

Percy had been in the infirmary for almost a week. Chiron had been pulling strings to keep him alive this long. The most Apollo could do was put him in a coma, like that helped much. Annabeth had almost put the god into a coma for it, and nobody could blame her. She sat as his side watching him grow thinner, paler, further from life. In week one, she promised herself that if he died, the moment that he died, she would take her own life. They could make the journey down together like they had before. Gods, that was so long ago...

Before mortals had taken her from him.

 _Percy was actually excited for school this year. His last year of high school, and Annabeth would be joining him. Not that he was looking forward to the school part of it, but it didn't seem so unbearable knowing that the love of his live would be available to help him with his hard stuff (mainly English and Government) and he had some fun stuff to do as well (Marine Biology, Water Polo, Amateur Art ). Now that he was actually fit, kinda hot, and had a definitely hot girlfriend, who would bother trying to fit him in a locker?_

 _It was the first day and his good feelings lasted despite having English first period. He and Annabeth got called out for PDA when they hugged each other goodbye at the bell, but neither cared. What would the proctor say? Two teenagers caught making physical contact in a rather friendly way? Scandalous._

 _So Annabeth walked to her AP Art History (because she couldn't take a normal art class to fill her art requirement like a normal person) and Percy went to English._

 _The first class was uneventful. The quirky teacher told some personal anecdotes while he veeerrrrrryyyy sssllllooooowwwwllllyyyy handed out the syllabus. That was all they had time for in the whole forty-five minute class before the bell rang. This was gonna be a long year._

 _He knew that his first two classes were on the opposite side of the school than Annabeth's first two, but just being away from her for almost an hour made his heart ache. He ran across the school and wandered around where he knew the math rooms were, waiting for her. He waited for a minute after the bell rang, just in case she was running late. His tardiness didn't really matter. He'd just say he got lost. It was the first day, a new school, teachers would probably be chill._

 _He sighed and gave up, beginning his trek to the other side of the school, watching his feet. That was precisely the problem. If he was watching his feet, he wasn't watching where he was going, and that happened to be right into a group of jocks who apparently didn't have a second period. The second their bodies made contact, Percy was up against a locker. Great._

 _"Watch it, asshole. We're walking." The guy talking was massive, even compared to Percy's solid six feet of height. He looked like a Cyclops who had been taking steroids and working out 24/7 starting inside the womb, plus one eye. Percy thought it best to not aggravate. Unless he had to._

 _"Hey, sorry, I wasn't looking. I'm an idiot; I think you'll agree. I don't want any trouble, guys, let's just move on." There were now two guys holding him to the wall of lockers, one holding his arm and chest and another his other arm. They'd somehow managed to get his bag off of him and another guy was going through it. Four other guys watched both scenes. That was seven. Percy was pretty sure there were eleven players at least required in American football, as their jerseys told him they were a part of, and he didn't want to find out where the others were._

 _"We would let you go, but, see, we_ do _want trouble. You just walked like you were going straight through us. That's a serious offense." He said in a weirdly threatening tone. Percy was sure these guys had half his already unimpressive IQ. He could try to outsmart them as a last resort. It was probably a better plan then trying to take them on physically. He stayed quiet as the guys laughed._

 _"Look. He's got a pretty crush." Said the guy digging through his stuff. He was probably the scrawniest of the group but would match Percy in size. His short, tangled brown hair made him look more homeless than anything else._

 _"Don't touch that!" Percy said without thinking._

 _"Oh, no?" The scrawny guy held the picture up so Percy could see and tore it in half, then half again, then crumpled the pieces into a ball and ate it. That was the picture she'd given him for his 18th birthday, when it was all she could get him. Written on the back was a promise for a real gift which she signed off with a smiling lipstick print. Needless to say, it meant a lot._

 _Percy fumed. Forget logical reasoning. He was gonna punch that picture out of this guy. He struggled against his restraints and kicked at them, but the boys simply dodged._

 _"You mad now, huh? Tony makin' you mad?" One of the other guys taunted. Percy didn't speak, just glared, and it took everything in him to calm down._

 _Tony kept going through his bag. "Oh, this is a real dummy. Look at this."_

 _Percy watched his schedule being shown around._

 _"Minimum of everything. Not even trying, huh? You're probably at the point where even your mommy and daddy can't hide how stupid you are from you. It's the one thing you can figure out!" The toughest looking ginger he had ever seen taunted._

 _"I'm sure as hell smarted than you dumbasses." Percy growled. "Or are you too stupid to even realize that?" Regret. REGRET!_

 _"This kid-" Someone started, then Percy felt a knee in his stomach. He doubled over and was allowed to fall in pain, the restraints gone._

 _"Let's beat his ass!"_

 _They yanked him up and while someone held him half up others took turns kicking him as hard as they could in the chest and stomach. He felt ribs crack and pain like fire explode all over. Something must've been ruptured. It was so hard to breathe he considered the loss of a lung to these guys._

 _The one holding him twisted his arm backwards and he felt the snapping as much as he heard it._

 _"Man, that was a little far." Someone said._

 _"Shut it, Anders. Or do you want your own spiral fracture? I'm sure Johnny would be happy to provide." The ginger said._

 _"You think you're so smart?" A voice so much louder than the other two that Percy's head rang said. It must've been really close, or the others really far, or both._

 _"No." Percy choked out. He noticed for the first time something metallic tasting in his mouth. He spit it out and it was red._

 _"Let's see how smart you are after this." The loud voice growled._

 _Everything moved and then went blurry and started to spin. Percy went numb. Everything jolted again, then went briefly black until a bit of feeling, a surge of pain, shot through his numbness. He heard something echo, then his head throbbed once. Everything went dark._


	2. Waking Up

**_WARNING: MEDICAL DRUG USE VERGING ON RECREATIONAL_**

 **I'm so glad that this seemed pretty well received! I hope I hold up to standards I've set for myself. Okay I know morphine isn't a weight-based drug but just go with me here. Thinking of including a casual drug addiction because it kinda makes sense (think _Sherlock_ ). Yes? No? Bad idea? Best thing since sliced bread? Tell me. I have poor judgement this early in the morning.**

 **I FINISHED WRITING THIS CHAPTER BUT IT DELETED ITSELF AND NOW I AM DISCOURAGED BECAUSE IT WAS PRETTY GOOD AND NOW IT'S GONE DX Rewriting it now even though it's 2 AM :/ Because I love you guys.**

 **okay so I re-wrote the whole thing as best as I could from memory. I tried word-for-word but it got messy in some places. please, I know this is only the second chapter, but excuse whatever garbage came out of this. I am so tired. whats wrong with me ?**

Thinking back on it, Annabeth blamed herself completely. Everyone told her it was normal, blaming yourself for something bad happening to someone you know, even if you couldn't have done anything to stop it. They didn't know. If she had only spent more time walking the halls, she could've met Percy in the hallway and told him to go back to class. If she went to meet him and they'd run into each other on their ways. Worst, if she'd asked the leave the room when she heard the banging right outside her classroom. Then Percy would be okay. Percy would-

A small sound from Percy's bed startled her out of her thoughts. She was immediately focused on Percy. If he so much as breathed out of pattern, she would catch it. Her heart pounded in her ears.

Percy's finger twitched.

"Someone! I think Percy is waking up!" Annabeth yelled at the top of her lungs, probably alerting half the camp. A flood of doctors and nurses were stopped at the door. They knew the rules. The only one allowed in right now was the Doctor assigned to Percy. Will came in and stood by Annabeth.

"You should go." Will said, beginning his observations and checking the machines temporarily donated to the camp by the demigod-friendly hospital that Percy was originally admitted to.

"I've been here the whole time. I'm not leaving now." Annabeth was too nervous to do anything but stand and pace.

Will offered her a small smile, "I know. You _should_ go. I couldn't get you to leave if every demigod in the world was on my side."

Percy's breathing sped up and Annabeth could see his chest heaving like he was putting all of his energy into opening his eyes. His lips parted to allow bigger breaths. His fingers twitched consistently until his whole hand jumped. His eyes shot open with a gasp, his shoulders leaping to life. His eyes darted around until they seemed settled on a conclusion and Percy allowed them to rest, taking the time to settle his breathing. When he was calm, he opened his eyes. He sat up and tried to push himself back to lean against the wall. It was a struggle, and neither in the room could blame the effects of weeks of lying still on Percy. Both knew he needed and would be grateful for, but be embarrassed by their help if it was offered. They kept silent and still until he managed on his own.

"I hope those jackasses are in juvie."

Annabeth rushed to him and wrapped her arms around him in a hug, "I thought you were going to die!" It took some effort to keep herself from shaking. The bombardment of so many emotions was almost more than she could take. It wouldn't last long, though. After every flood of emotions, her flood gates closed to protect her soon enough.

"Aw, come on, Wise Girl, I thought you knew better. Me? Die? That's ridiculous." His words were slightly slurred. Percy blinked at looked at Will, "Am I on morphine."

"Yeah, you are." Will said.

"Well, uh, I think you might want to lower the dosage just a bit. You probably didn't recalculate from your original dosage calculation to take my change in weight into account."

Will's eyes widened, "Oh, dammit." He scribbled something on his clipboard paper.

"So he's high?" Annabeth studied Percy's carefree smile. Her floodgates were nearly finished.

"It... He... Yeah, probably. But it's not my fault! I'm not in charge of narcotics." Will fidgeted with his pen nervously.

"You did oversee it, I hope? But that's not the real question. I believe that would be 'to be or not to be', so I'm not gonna ask that one either. I ask: Why were you giving morphine to a completely unconscious comatose guy a month after his injuries were inflicted? I'm the guy, by the way. And why would the hospital just _give_ anyone morphine? Or any of this stuff, really. What, a heart monitor, IV thingy, no life support? Cheap." He smirked briefly.

Annabeth reviewed the facts of what he had just said, "Hold up. One: How did you know about the hospital? Two: You make a very good point. Will?"

"Stop! I'm one, you're two. I go first." Percy interrupted Will. "All the equipment in here is new-ish tech-y stuff that I know for a fact the camp doesn't have, so you had to have gotten it from some 'mortal' hospital. That's already enough for me to throw an accusation out there, but I actually have more. I was beaten up in a pretty public mortal area, and there is no way the school or government or whatever would've handed me over to a maybe-maybe-not-thousand-year-old-centaur and some kids to be taken to this magical strawberry farm out in the middle of nowhere that they had never heard of, and they couldn't do nothing, so mortal hospital. But, like, not any old mortal hospital would let you get away with taking a patient and a whole bunch of equipment, so it had to be demigod/god-affiliated. Like the kind of thing where mortals go in and get treated and everything is dandy but also where if you know the right person and say the right words then, _bam_ , you have basically unlimited ambrosia and nectar _plus_ some pretty frickin' wicked mortal hospital do-hickeys and you're set. But they got me, lemme guess the word, 'stablilzed' and let me go but I was just stabilized and not totally okay at all so they kinda had to give you some stuff to look after me. I mean, I couldn't just stay there. That hospital might be demigod friendly but I seriously they have a magical demigod tree protecting them. So me being my valuable son-of-Poseidon self had to be moved to a place where monsters couldn't rip apart my valuable son-of-Poseidon self and sell me remains on E-bay. 'Cause you know if remains are being sold, that's goin' down on E-bay. So you had to move me here for protection from being sold as a cool monster rug on E-bay and keep me alive and high with some of those mortal thingies. And I think I've figured out the second answer as well. It is secret answer E: You drugged me up because you figured when I woke up I would be in a world of pain, and you're nice so you actually wanted to prevent that. But you, well, nobody, had any way of knowing when I would wake up so you just kept it on the whole time. Did I get the points?"

The blondes were impressed if not put off by Percy.

"You stole my thunder." Will complained halfheartedly. His clipboard arm had been slowly sinking until it hung by his side having been outdone.

"I have two responses to that. Bare with me." Percy readied himself like he was about to perform some incredible physical feat. "I didn't steal the lightning, we cleared that up, now I'm being accused of stealing thunder, too?" He sent a smirk in Annabeth's direction. "Two: I couldn't possibly have stolen your thunder because you never had any. You're a son of Apollo; I had to settle for stealing your sunlight. And you can't steal my water in retaliation because I need it for rainbows. Don't worry, I'll bring some to your wedding." He smiled a little larger.

"Gods, Will, turn the morphine off." Annabeth said. Percy made too much sense.

"I already have." Will assured her.

"No, no, no. Not all the way off. World of pain? We agreed on this."

He reluctantly went over and turned it on to the lowest setting. "Fine." He looked down at that magical clipboard of his, "I should be giving you this mental capabilities test-memory check, reactions, reasoning, basic functions-but I'm probably just gonna come back in a few hours and do it then."

"It's fine! I'm fine! I can do it now. And, hey, if I can't answer one plus one then you can go and come back later." Percy sat forward at the ready, using more effort than it should take.

"Okay." Will agreed somewhat bored with the current matter or in fact knowing that he should be elsewhere, "What's one plus one?"

"Eleven." Percy answered with seamless confidence.

Will huffed a sigh of indignity. Annabeth shamelessly facepalmed. Will left the room without a word, ignoring Percy's syllables being swallowed by his own laughs.

"I was just..." He allowed one more bout of laughter before he could speak somewhat coherently, "I was just kidding. I probably should've picked a more conspicuously intentionally incorrect answer. Like nine. Try to connect nine as the answer to one plus one. And while you think, turn my morphine up a bit? My lungs are seriously hurting and I don't think it's the fault of my partially vocalized diaphragm spasms AKA laughing."

"Even if I wanted to, I'm not authorized." She mumbled to her fingernails. She had been through a lot of weird things in her life. She wasn't prone to shock, and she didn't think she'd ever been in a stage of shock. It was always denial, a brief acceptance, and trying to forget. She figured that this weird feeling she had now was her missing feeling; shock.

"Dammit." Percy said through the intake of a breath. Annabeth looked up to see him reaching for the dial himself. She was forced to run over and get him away from it, then hold him in place on the bed.

"Wow, Annabeth, you know, you're almost as strong as those guys who pined me to the lockers. Funny how things repeat themselves." Percy was fine with being passive aggressive.

Annabeth realized what she was doing and let him go, sinking back into what was obviously _her_ chair.

"Sorry." She said weakly.

"Annabeth Chase!" Someone called from outside. A few minuted ago, she wouldn't have hesitated in the decision to take anyone who wanted her out of that room down. Now... She knew Percy was fine, he was awake, and there was nothing she could do that the doctors couldn't. It would be better to wait for the morphine effects to wear off anyway, she decided, and abode by her summons.

Percy was left alone. He considered why Annabeth, who had been waiting by his side this whole time (the visitors area was set up like a permanent residence and Annabeth had been there when he woke up despite the fact that it should've been just Will) had decided to leave him so quickly. He was right; distracting himself with thoughts did make it easier for him to reach the morphine dial. He set it to five, acceptable considering it was at eight before, and put his head back against the pillow, letting the strange feeling of the arrival of that foreign substance in his veins.

He prayed to every god there was that whatever was happening in his brain wouldn't drive Annabeth away.

 **oh gods im finally done ! its three am now i hope this was worth it sorry if it wasnt**


	3. Probably Smarter Than A Fifth Grader

_**For my Guest reviewer Matt**_ _ **because I respond to every review and I can't PM a guest: "I've got nothing with Percy being super smart, but him getting beat by thugs within an inch of his life? Are we talking about the same Percy because he'd probably beat them to an inch of their lives in my opinion." I say this: Yeah I get you. Believably is a problem. I made him way outnumbered and bigger than him and mortal so he couldn't use Riptide. No mention of his water powers because there was no source near enough for an effect. He couldn't fight back after the first few punches because he was already pretty much down. I did my best to make the Great Percy Jackson go down with reason, but yeah well spotted it probably shouldn't have happened. Oh well *shrugs* he's awake now.**_

 **REAL AN: I am so so absolutely delighted at how many people don't think this is a really weird idea! I actually think this is my most popular shortest fic. Thanks for contributing to that, everyone! I'm trying to get chapters written and out as often as possible without them being horrible. I'm not exactly sure where I want this to go plot wise (other than just him and everyone else coming to terms with the consequences of his injuries) so if anyone has some suggestions review or PM and I'll take everything into account. Now, on with the show.**

Percy took everything in so quickly, even more so with the room now devoid of lifeforms save himself. With a glance he put together the strangest things without even thinking about it. Little marks on the wall had stories behind them. Stains, scuffs on the floor, dents in the wall. It seemed so painfully obvious what had happened leading up to them and since. Why hadn't he noticed before?

He figured it must be one strange infirmary room to have had so many obvious things happen in it. He didn't notice these things before because, of course, how could he if he had never been in the room before? Stupid. He smiled to himself and shook his head. It was still surprisingly sore after all of the time (and drugs) that went to helping him 'feel better'. Nothing was doing a very good job. Maybe Apollo was as bad at medicine as he was at poetry. That would make a lot of sense.

When his immediate surroundings had been decoded, he hopped back into the past. He replayed his memories since waking up with terrifying attention to detail that didn't leave a colour or syllable behind. Something that he had known from the second he woke up but never paid mind to dawned on him: If Annabeth was with him the whole time, she couldn't have been at school. She really _really_ liked school for reasons Percy figured he would never understand, and she'd just left that to come sit and watch him deteriorate. Basically, he owed her a thank you.

Annabeth left Will to do whatever it is that needed to be done in the infirmary. She needed to tell whoever didn't know that Percy was awake and, for the most part, undamaged. It was the news of the year. Everyone told everyone that the Percy Jackson of the prophecies was alive. There had been rumours floating around about what deadly foes he had faced to be so badly hurt. Those closest to Percy knew the truth but didn't spoil the fantasy for the other campers. Percy was a celebrity and a role model. He didn't need that ruined, and neither did the younger campers who looked up to him. The counselors used his 'battle' to warn against getting too cocky or thinking you're too good or charging into battle unprepared. If it could happen to Percy, it could happen to you, was the general vibe. So now, if Percy could survive, you could too. He had turned in seconds from a warning to a beacon of hope.

Camp Jupiter had been notified. They were also clinging to Percy and waiting for any news of his condition changing. A few had even come to CHB as soon as Percy was moved here, namely Reyna, Frank, Hazel, and Jason. Nico and the remaining of the Seven of the Prophecy (minus Percy, of course) had been staying in whatever cabins they could, holding support meetings where they basically just reminisced as if Percy had already died. The relief now that he was definitely not dead was tangible all over the camp. The fire blazed as tall as the Big House in bright greens and golds.

Jason was the first to find Annabeth.

"Were you with him when he woke up? Is he okay? Other than being not dead. Can he move? Does he know what happened?" Jason's eyes practically glowed blue, unable to focus on Annabeth's.

"I was there. They gave him too much morphine but other than that he's fine and he knows what's going on just as well as any of us." Annabeth tried to explain briefly. How Percy knew what he knew was a mystery to her. She wouldn't dismiss the idea that he'd left his body and was watching for some of the time, however ridiculous that sounded. She didn't want to pitch that insanity to Jason, or she might be the next in the infirmary in the mental sector.

"I think Piper was by the fields but I don't know where anyone else is." Jason adjusted his glasses and looked around like he might be able to find the rest of the Seven (and Reyna and Nico, of course) like he was finding Waldo.

"I'll keep looking. Oh, they're also going to be doing some cognitive tests on him and I think it might be amusing.

Jason looked at Annabeth like she had just spoken Latin backwards, "Amusing? A test to make sure your no-longer-comatose boyfriend isn't brain dead or insane is amusing?"

Annabeth squinted at the ground, "Well when you put it like that, not so much."

Jason shook his head dismissively, "Okay, I'll get Piper and see how many others I can find."

"I'll look as well. Be at the infirmary in half an hour." Annabeth ran off.

~~~~~~~ _ **at t**_ ** _he infirmary in half an hour_** ~~~~~~~~

After being poked at for ten minutes, Percy was cleared to go. Apparently that was the fastest they'd ever cleared someone in his situation. He could leave, but he was given a wheelchair. He didn't mind. It reminded him of Chiron, and he was kind of happy with being able to liken himself to that awesome centaur. Sadly, his release meant no more morphine. "Ambrosia will help with pain" they said. "It's actually not that bad" they said. "You could get addicted." they said. Pfft. Like he could get addicted. He was Percy Jackson. He didn't die, and he didn't get addicted to drugs. That was _ridiculous_ and not in need of further consideration.

An incessant throbbing in his head inspired sharp pain behind his eyes.

"Percy, glad I caught you." Will interrupted the pounding sounds.

"I don't want to take an IQ test. Don't be ridiculous. Just because I can leave the room doesn't suddenly make me unable to take the standard infirmary test and you know that. You're just curious and I don't care because I'm not." As he finished speaking, Percy surrendered his head to his hands and squeezed his eyes shut. "And, please, morphine is the only thing that's stopped this headache."

Will ignored his request for morphine, "How did you know what I was going to ask?"

"Obvious. So can I get a to-go package of some friendly narcotics or what?"

"Um, no." Will was slightly taken aback, "But the infirmary cognitive test is just the default for bedridden patients, and since you are no longer bedridden and you did experience a severe head trauma-"

"I know, I know. That's why it was so obvious. You saying these things out loud doesn't change my response. I have a right to refuse."

"Unless I get Chiron on my side. Then you have to." Will fired back.

"Are you really gonna argue with a guy in a wheelchair, Solace? Are you that desperate?" Percy had managed somehow to will the pounding to the back of his head where it was less seething with pain and more feeling like he should have a concussion. Where there was a Will, there was a way.

"I will involve Chiron." The young doctor threatened.

"No, don't bother him. I was just being stubborn because it's my default state of being. Also sassy. Stubby? Sassborn. Sassborn is my default and constant state of being. And my middle name."

Will sighed and rolled his eyes, "Alright Mr. Percy 'Sassborn' Jackson. There's a room for this."

"Just Sassborn, please." Percy continued on, trying to block out his headache with words as Will wheeled him away, "And if you are to use my first name, it's 'Persassy' to you. Last name 'Jacksass', not to be confused with 'Jackass'. There is a very subtle difference. The spelling is similar too."

Will ignored him for the most part, thankful that the son of Poseidon couldn't see the actual smiles he had cracked.

"It's on black paper, printed in white." Will got the sheets.

"I can see that. Even if I was colorblind I would be able to see that. Why would you say that?"

"So I can tell you it's a good-"

"Yeah, yeah, dyslexia. Just give me a pen."

Percy couldn't believe he'd wasted a whole fifteen minutes of his life answering fifty stupid questions like 'which comes next in the sequence?' and 'if this and that, then what?'. It was imbecilic. Or imbi-silly. That should be the word.

He capped the pen (which was by far the most anticlimactic pen capping he had ever done) and put the papers together so they were all nicely aligned.

Will snapped his head up, "You're done?" Surprise laced his syllables.

Percy looked around for a reason for Will's surprise, "Uh, yes?"

"Did you guess?" Will stood up and walked to the center of the tiny room to the table in the middle where Percy sat.

"No. Was I supposed to?" Percy handed his beautiful stack up to Will, only slightly disgruntled that everyone was now taller than him. Well, they weren't, but they were above him. That sucked.

Will silently shook his head and leafed through the papers. "Give me a few minutes to score this." He sounded like holding the papers had aged him thirty years.

"I'm not going anywhere." He leaned back in his chair and sighed. Then he got bored. Then his headache started to come back. He hadn't realized it had gone until it wasn't anymore. He made note that he could distract himself very efficiently from the pain if he was thinking about something else. What about doing something else? Only one way to find out.

He rolled his chair away from the desk a little and pushed himself out of it. It was more difficult than he thought to get his legs to support his weight. He tried to hold himself up on the table but his arms were too weak. This _really_ sucked.

"Didn't you feed me at all?" Percy complained.

Will looked up and flipped out, yelling something about chairs and lack resources. Percy sat down and Will continued on his scoring.

Percy figured they hadn't gotten any feeding tubes from the hospital. Which was stupid. If you're gonna get all of the other things, why wouldn't you get a means to keep the patient healthy enough to not need a wheelchair.

Will swore in Ancient Greek and Percy looked over to see him going through the answer key and question documents again.

"Problem?" Percy wheeled over.

"I... maybe. Or you might just be the first person to not miss a single question."

"First? That's got to be an exaggeration. Fifth, I might fall for. Fifteenth, more likely, but it was too straightforward for no one at camp to not have aced it before. Wait. Did I just ace a test?" Percy looked from the papers to Will.

"Yes. No. You are literally the first. And it's not scored like school grades, so you didn't technically ace it."

"Aw man. That was my one chance. You're still lying about first. What'd I get?"

Will look a last look to make sure he wasn't going crazy, "According to this, you have an IQ of 189."


	4. Mourn The Impending Loss of Sarcasm

**Things will pick up (hopefully) in the next chapter or two. I couldn't make Percy a genius without also adding in those typical genius social struggles, and the I did it in the best way I could without breaking his character in an unwarranted way, even though he's already OOC. I just needed to establish a few things here. It's not quite a filler because things happened (yay for things!) but it's not exactly the most exciting thing I've ever written. Don't let my self doubt deter you! Onward you read!**

"189." Percy repeated, "Is that good?"

Will spluttered, "Good? Are you kidding?"

"No?" Percy answered rather seriously.

"On this scale, Einstein is at about 190 and average is 100." Will kept looking between the papers and Percy, like the two couldn't possibly be connected.

"How do I get a 190?" Percy asked excitedly, "That sounds fun."

"I think you should've. The scoring formula kind of falls apart when the numbers get too high." Will turned his scratch paper so Percy could see. Percy studied the formula and workings for a few seconds before claiming the pencil and writing a new formula that kind of resembled the original.

"That might hold." He said, turning the paper back to Will so he could read it. The son of Apollo gave Percy a skeptic look, but did his workings. He would've made the genius do it if he hadn't been the official administrator and required to calculate the score himself. He hoped it wasn't against the rules to have the tested alter the formula before use.

"According to this, 194, but that's not official. I have to have the formula approved." Will couldn't believe it. "And, one more thing, the point at which the first formula starts to fail is the point at which social skills start to as well. Basically... I expect some Asperger's traits in you at the very least."

"Will I be sass-impaired?" Percy asked like that was the only thing that mattered.

Will had to crack a smile, "Hopefully not. Closest thing would be inability to interpret sarcasm."

"I value my sarcastic abilities. What else?"

"I'll tell you after you display them as a regular occurrence. I don't want to influence anything psychosomatic." Will stood after he had carefully folded the test and put it into his pocket, making for the back of Percy's chair. "If you do have enough symptoms for it to actually be diagnosed as Asperger's, it will probably be high-functioning." He started pushing Percy out of the room, making the formerly powerful demigod feel more useless than the assistance had made him feel a little while ago. "I don't doubt you'll be able to get a diagnoses. It's really common for people with high IQ's to have autism or Asperger's, and even more common for acquired savants, which you technically are."

"Okay, pause and define psychosomatic and acquired savant."

"Psychosomatic is like when you think something is wrong with you so wholeheartedly that your brain believes it and it becomes a real problem. An acquired savant is someone gets hit on the head really hard and either becomes a genius or suddenly has some amazing skill that they didn't have before."

Percy nodded, "Can both happen? Like, could I be really good at jigsaw puzzles suddenly as well?"

"I guess theoretically, but if you're talking about puzzles in specific, I'm sure your intelligence level would be enough to up your game with them."

"Awesome. I'm gonna challenge Annabeth to a puzzle contest. She has this weird fascination. She's asked me to race her at puzzles so many times but I suck a puzzles. Well, hopefully not... anymore. Hello." As soon as they exited the room Percy slowed his ramblings at the sight of his friends. It seemed like there were a lot more friends than he remembered having, but when he counted and went down a checklist quickly, no one was missing and no one had been added. Maybe it was the small corridor.

Percy was rushed with so many exclamations about how bad he looked he had to laugh. He didn't, though, everyone seemed way too close to his face for laughter. This was uncomfortable. Will got them to calm down like a trainer containing a pack of wild animals. With the relative silence of the corridor Will could give his report.

"Physically, as you can see, the main problems result from the time he spent unable to eat and move. He doesn't have enough strength to hold himself up effectively, hence-" he motioned to Percy, who gave a weak little wave. "Other physical injuries such as his broken bones and punctured lung have been taken care of."

"Why didn't you tell me I had a punctured lung?"

"It wasn't a pressing matter; it had already been resolved!" Will excused himself. "What is pressing is his altered mental state. Aside from probable minor amnesia-"

"Oh, man, not again." Percy complained.

"I feel you, bro. That sucks." Jason nodded.

Will paused for a second to emphasise their weirdness before continuing, "Besides that, his head being slammed into a locker and the floor as well as being pummelled by meaty man fists was somehow done so perfectly that there are no permanent impairments, but, uh, _enhancements,_ one might say."

"One might say enhancements but what would two say?" Percy smirked and was ignored.

"What do you mean _enhancements_?" Annabeth questioned the doctor.

"Well, he seems to be an acquired savant, but there hasn't been much testing. He broke the IQ scale we have here. He tested 189 but I'm sure it's higher. Either way, he's a genius."

"They smacked the stupid out of me. Gabe would be jealous. Side note: I think I'm remembering things just fine."

"Why do you say that?" Will entered talking-with-my-patient mode.

"Well, because I'm remembering things just fine? Why else would use those words?" Percy asked with confusion in his words.

"Genius? Solace, I think someone needs to rewrite that IQ test." Nico gazed skeptically at Percy. Percy was still hung up on Will's question.

"Percy, what I meant was 'what makes you think that you don't have some missing memories?' And di Angelo, he basically traded one intelligence for another. Social for logical."

Nico nodded to Will's response while Percy spoke, "Oh, you should've just said that. Because I know what amnesia is like (notj ust complete amnesia taking into account the stretches of time when I had some memories though they were fuzzy and brief and unimportant as well as the times closer to my full recovery where I was only missing a few insignificant memories) so I think I would be able to tell if I was missing something. And also my memory has been really _really_ good since I've woken up so I assume that it would be unlikely for the memory part of my brain to be altered in two different directions (even if I didn't know what amnesia felt like) making me lose some memories and greatly enhancing my recall ability at the same time. But I'm not a doctor so that could be possible. But you're not a doctor either. I demand evidence of a PhD."

"Alright, I believe the genius thing just a little bit." Nico gave in.

"I don't have a PhD. I don't need one to-"

"MD? That would be the most suited to your current occupation."

"No, okay, I don't have any degrees. I just know stuff." Will knew he shouldn't get annoyed at a recovering patient with brain damage, but Percy made it so easy. "Percy can leave but I think it would be a good idea if someone stayed with him in his cabin to..." He looked down at where Persasseus was bound, "help out."

"I will." Annabeth said before anyone else could think of opening their mouths.

"You still love me! That's good news. Of course you do. I'm so lovable."

"Thank you. You can take him now. He won't be needed here until tomorrow for further testing. I need to see Chiron." Will saluted with two fingers and left the infirmary, followed by Nico.

Percy smiled the cutest smile he could muster up at his girlfriend, "Looks like you're stuck with me."


	5. Photography?

Percy was surprisingly talkative for someone who was wheelchair bound as a result of a coma. Annabeth kind of stopped listening when he was talking about how if a car is moving in a straight line you can pour water just fine but if it turns or speeds up or slows down then you spill all over yourself. She didn't even know what made him think of that. How many times had he needed to pour something during a car ride? She loved him, but he really needed to shut up.

If he was quiet for a second, Annabeth could take some time to process what had happened to him. Genius? Probably not, but he seemed like he knew what was going on more than before he was pummelled. Genius wasn't exactly a Poseidon trait. He couldn't have just inherited it from a punch to the face. She realised his rambling had stopped.

She looked at him. He looked at her.

"You stopped. In the middle of the field. What gives?" Percy gestured somewhat comically with his minimal strength.

"Right," Annabeth shook the thoughts out of her head and continued walking to Cabin 3. "Sorry."

"You seem more out of it than me. One might think you were the one freshly out of a coma if not for the chair." Percy looked up at Annabeth behind him.

"'One?'" Annabeth noticed this unnatural thing in Percy's speech.

He shrugged, "Well, I couldn't say 'you' because you wouldn't think that because you know what happened. One-someone-one. It's grammatically correct."

Annabeth couldn't believe what she was hearing, "Did you just justify something you said as grammatically correct?"

"Yes, and I believe it was. Are you having trouble hearing?" Percy asked, lacking a sassy that Percy should be using here.

Annabeth couldn't respond anymore. Maybe it was best to ignore him until whatever it was (morphine?) from the infirmary had worn off. "Just forget it." She said, attempting to close the conversation.

Percy frowned, "Actually, since I woke up, I've been having a really hard time forgetting things. It's like the opposite of amnesia. Fun that I got to have both in a lifetime, right?"

"What do you mean?" Damnit. Her curiosity got the best of her. So much for ignoring him...

"Well, I have pretty much a perfect detailed memory of everything that's happened since I woke up. I could recite back to you any conversation we had, tell you what colour shoelaces the kid playing the guitar had, tell you all of the questions on the IQ test and their answers. Things like that." Percy finished speaking just as Annabeth got him into his cabin. She took the opportunity to move around and see his face. He had to be kidding. He had to. He... he was completely not kidding.

"Oh my gods, you have a photographic memory?" Annabeth blinked at him, only thinking that it was unfair.

"I guess? Or-what's it called?-eidetic, in relation to visual and audio input."

"No, I think it's photographic." Annabeth said.

"Hm." Percy took a second to consider this, "Cool."

Annabeth blinked a few times at him. "Cool? That's all you're going to say?"

"No. I'm not suddenly going to stop speak- oh, you meant... Yeah. That's it."

"You could read literally anything you wanted and you would just _know_ it. The millions of textbooks in the world could be in your head!" Annabeth's arms moved enthusiastically without her permission.

"Having every textbook ever written in my head sounds painful. Maybe I'll just read a dictionary."

"I can't imagine you with an elaborate vocabulary." Really, she couldn't imagine him any different than she had gotten to know him to be. Somehow, he was already seeming farther from that person. 'Genius.' She wanted to scoff. The only thing holding her back from doing so was the terrifying notion that that might be right.

"Me neither." Percy said lightly, gazing off into the corner of the room. He let his eyes rest there for a few seconds before closing them and letting his head hang. "I have such a bad headache. And actually I just hurt all over. Maybe I should get some more morphine."

Annabeth was once again taken by surprise. "Mor- Percy. Maybe try Aspirin before narcotics."

"I think going straight to narcotics is a much less time consuming plan of action. I could try a number of things weaker than morphine and wait for them to work and they might not, which would only prolong my suffering. I know for a fact that morphine will work, therefore it's the most logical thing to give to me right now." Percy reasoned.

"Yeah," Annabeth didn't show that she was impressed. "Or you just want drugs. Please, don't turn into an addict, That's the last thing you need." Impressed and worried.

"It really hurts not being able to move an all." Percy pressed on.

"You can move, you just can't support your own weight." Annabeth retorted.

"Okay," Percy snapped unexpectedly, "Well maybe I want the morphine because since I've woken up I can't forget anything and everything is being processed on a thousand different levels and I'm just _thinking too much, okay?!_ And the morphine slowed me down." As soon as Percy finished, he let his mouth close slowly in shame and looked down. "Sorry." He whispered. "It's just really different."

Annabeth silently considered for a while. She couldn't think of anything to say. She couldn't think of anything to _think_ to say. She swallowed the heavy air in the room, "I can find you a dictionary."

Percy held his head in his hands for as long as his depleted arms would allow, "Yeah. Thanks."

Annabeth knew he knew it was just a reason for her to leave. It was best if neither said anything. She went to the Athena cabin where she knew were a few dictionaries that nobody would miss.

Alone, Percy tried to slow his thoughts. He couldn't. They were everywhere, overthinking everything. He was totally aware that The ground beneath his feet was spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet was hurtling around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour and he could almost feel it. Himself. Falling through space. He was aware that everything around him was made up of tiny particles that were made of even tinier atoms made of tinier subatomic particles made of tinier quarks and- And his brain was functioning, and thinking as wide as the universe. He could see everything if he zoomed out far enough. And everyone else's heads hosted those possibilities as well, hosted an entire universe. There were such large things inside of little lumps of matter made of little particles and they were all just electrical currents bouncing around and creating all that was createable. A universe inside a mind inside a universe... Where did it stop? Nowhere. He was just in the mind of a mind, and within that loop lived billions upon billions of other people with thoughts and universes of their own, and-

" _Percy!_ " Annabeth had to shout to get his attention on her millionth try, "Dictionary." She put it in his lap. "What were you thinking about?"

Percy shook his head and looked at the old cover of the dictionary, "Nothing. Just staring at a wall. Walls are good."

Annabeth stared at him and nodded, "Uh-huh." His face had looked like he was battling with a lot more than a wall.

"Thanks for... yeah. Now I'll just... read it. I guess." Annabeth watched Percy's nervous darting eyes like he was a strange creature in a zoo. He seemed uncomfortable, but it was just them. Had she done something?

"Percy, I'm sorry if I-"

"You didn't." He said before she could finish. He opened the dictionary with a sigh to the first page and let Annabeth walk out of the cabin without so much as a glance in her direction.


	6. Alert! New Vocabulary Acquired

For the most part, Percy was left alone. That came as a shock to him. He thought the people who had been waiting so long to see him wake up would've been crowding around him. He assumed there was some kind of doctor's orders or something. If it wasn't, then, well, he could deal with being shunned.

It took a few hours but he finished a dictionary. His brain felt kind of soggy, weighed down by everything he'd memorised, but also invigorated.

 _That was so much fun_ , he thought before he could realise what he was doing. Was he for real? Reading a dictionary had been _fun_? No, not really. Not the act in itself. It wasn't fun at the beginning when it took him forever with his dyslexia to get past the a's, but it was incredible to be subtly aware of himself reading faster as he got further along until he was understanding the words before his dyslexia had a chance to ruin them. Reading that fast was fun, he supposed, the same way driving a race car was fun. The aftermath, despite his incessantly throbbing headache, was more than just _fun_. It was the kind of satisfied you get after having an amazingly cooked hot meal after hours of play in the cold. He wanted to stay in this state. Forget about morphine, this was true liberation.

He let a smile spread across his face, and only then recalled that his physical abilities left much to be desired. That brief show of happiness faded, and Percy hoped he would be able to at least walk on his own soon.

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

Percy had taken it upon himself, when left alone until sundown with nothing to do but re-read the dictionary, to try to walk. His relearning how was inevitable, but he didn't want to waste any time assuming that it would happen without work.

Getting to his feet was significantly harder that he thought it would be. It took an incredibly complicated routine that he had never thought about before now. He couldn't even push himself out of the chair to be able to get to his feet. After his arms got sore from trying, he resorted to sliding out of the chair and pitifully onto the floor. He sat there for a second, contemplating the best course of action in order to bring himself to his feet. Dishearteningly, most option required use of his arms to pull himself up, and that was not going to happened. He had never hated being so tall as much as he did in that moment.

Annabeth walked in on his shameful floor sitting at a perfect time. No sarcasm intended. At least he wasn't trying to get to his feet like newborn deer or something.

"What the hell are you doing?" Annabeth almost yelled, but her voice wouldn't allow itself to sound mad.

"Sitting on the floor. It's really quite an enthralling avocation. You should join me."

Annabeth opened her mouth to speak, but had too many things to say at once. She made little sounds of almost starting to say words, but ended up just shaking her head. "Get back in the chair." She decided on.

Percy shrugged loosely, "I would if I could but I can't so I won't."

At that, Annabeth snapped out of her immediate surprise and went to help Percy stand and sit back in his chair. "What's the definition of avocation?" She asked a little sheepishly after Percy was seated.

"Noun. A hobby or minor occupation."

"So you made it past the a's." Annabeth concluded.

"I did. I read the whole thing. It wasn't nearly as elating the second time. I'm hungry."

"You read it twice? In three hours?" Annabeth once again had to check his face to make sure he wasn't lying. It didn't look like it.

"Yes. I just implied that. Do I get to eat now?"

"Yeah, but, uh, your mom is here. Chiron told her what happened with you, and since you're awake, she's here." Annabeth moved around back of Percy to push him.

"Oh... crap. She was probably... crap." His vocabulary abandoned him. His thoughts were replaced by conjured images of his mom weeping, distraught, while he lay sleeping.

"She really wants to see you." Annabeth said.

"Of course she does. I mean, yeah. Let's go."

At Percy's word, Annabeth started pushing Percy to where Sally was waiting, pacing in the courtyard.

* * *

 **This is a short chapter AND I haven't updated in forever. I'm really sorry. School has been hell. I'll try to update more. My system is whichever of my fics has the most reviews asking for more will be updated first, so if you want this continued quickly you have to let me know. Thanks for the read. I hope to get more out by November at the latest.**

 **NOTE: My vocabulary is now smaller than Percy's, which is a problem since I'm writing his speech. So if you see that I've misused a word coming out of his mouth, let me know with a review or PM and I'll fix it. Appreciated :)**

 **NOTE 2: I AM NOT A DOCTOR but I am minoring in psychology. I'm gonna try to be as precise as I can from here on out, but a lot of the physical stuff will probably be out of whack. If you see something blatantly wrong (that won't affect the plot if changed), tell me and I'll either try to fix it or implement the facts later or think up some reason why things aren't going as they should that applies to the universe.**

 **NOTE 3: I'm not exactly sure where the plot is going so PLEEAAAASEEEEEE tell me where you want it to go! The only thing I'm sure of at this point is that he will return to mortal school.**

 **THANK YOU FOR READING MY NOTES THEY ARE IMPORTANT AND I KNOW 99.999% OF PEOPLE IGNORE THEM SO IF YOU DID READ THEM THANK YOU YOU'RE THE BEST!**


	7. Mom

**Hey guys I'm sorry it's been a while. I've been thinking about this fic a lot, I only haven't updated because I'm not sure how Sally will react. I'll do the best I can with her but I apologise ahead of time. I've never been very good at writing her. And I'm also scared of messing Percy up now that I've established him. I don't want to overdo it but at the same time I really really want to overdo it.**

 **I'm updating because the guest named Mark told me to. Thanks, Mark.**

* * *

Percy felt absolutely sick with guilt as soon as he saw his mom. He almost wanted to tell Annabeth to turn him around before he threw up, and he probably would've run away to take a few minutes for himself if he could move on his own. He would really have to work on that.

"PERCY!" The elation in her voice almost masked her worry at the sight of her poor son. She ran over to meet him faster than he'd ever seen her move before. He could've cried, until she wrapped her arms around him. Then something strange happened. He felt like her touch was made up of millions of beetles crawling around and through his skin, up his spine and into his brain. He found himself shaking his head quickly, teeth clenched like that would take away the feeling. He registered this as pain but it didn't hurt.

Against his better judgement, tight words escaped. "Get off," His eyes were squeezed shut now. He could hardly think, but for 'what the hell?'

Sally moved away quickly at first, then slowly until she was far enough away that Percy could see the pain in her face.

 _Dolor. Noun. A state of great sorrow or distress._

The feeling only slightly lessened. His hands moved against their will, and he trusted his instincts to fix the problem however they saw fit. His fingers shook and they curled and uncurled as rapidly as he could manage, then clenched each other, his arms started shaking, too, then he was rubbing his hands together, the feeling dulled, and then his hands were clasped as tightly as he could bear, his whole body seeming to vibrate. The sounds of the world dulled into muffled chatter, worse than being underwater, and he felt suddenly dizzy. Even his own thoughts lived underwater for what felt like all the time in the world and less than a second at the same time.

Until it stopped. Will was crouched in front of him, not touching him, but looking straight into his eyes. "Are you okay?"

 _Okay. Adjective. Satisfactory but not exceptionally or especially good._

Was he? "I'm not sure," he gave his best answer, and found that his voice was still shaking. His mom, he could hear clearly, was crying. He vaguely wondered how many times he had caused her to cry. Probably a lot recently.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Will asked gently, like talking to a small child. Maybe that was best.

Percy flipped back easily through the time in his head, but found only a block and a mix of strange sounds and images, like a malfunctioning computer, after his mom hugged him.

"Malfunction," Percy said.

Will looked up behind Percy and he could tell that he was locking eyes with Annabeth. He figured they were somehow talking to each other through their eyes, and probably about him.

"I am satisfactory," Percy said to distract their telepathy, and only after the words came out did he question why he didn't say 'I'm okay.'

Will looked at him strangely and blinked once before standing up. "Okay, if you say so."

"I do."

Will looked at him some more. "I know you do."

There was silence. Will went to talk to Sally quietly and Percy was left wondering what he did wrong, feeling like he must've.

"Seaweed- Percy," Annabeth said behind him, "Do you know what's wrong with you?"

Percy didn't turn to look at her. He only let the unfinished nickname resonate with him, barely considering the question. "No, do you?"

"Will says I can't tell you until he's sure. Placebo and all."

Percy nodded, though he wanted desperately to be told right away what was wrong. He started to flip back in his memory and listen for what Will had said since he woke up, but immediately refocused on the current world when his mom approached him.

"I'm sorry," He said quickly.

"It's not your fault. None of this is. I just... I'm so happy you're awake, I am, but you're not the Percy I expected to see."

Percy looked at Will. "What have you told her about me?"

"All of it," He said. Percy looked back to his mom. Her blue eyes were warm as ever, but glossed over with tears like a sheet of ice keeping that warmth from Percy. An image in the back of his head showed him with brown hair and blue eyes like hers. He smiled a little.

"So... you know I'm... okay." He thought about his words this time. Emulating vernacular and syntax seemed important.

She smiled sadly, her lips tucking into themselves, and stopped herself from reaching to stroke his hair. "The way he told me about it made it seem more like you gained a superpower than anything else." She huffed as if in a laugh, so Percy did the same, though he didn't see what was funny.

She took some time just looking at her son, up and down, and Percy felt somewhat self-conscious. The silence brought a great calm into his whole body; something that flooded down from his brain and took over his limbs with a peaceful feeling. He imagined sitting in this silence for the rest of his life, but then thought that that would get boring quickly.

"I love you, Percy," Sally said suddenly, and the silence was broken.

He saw her smile-small and sad-so copied it onto his own face. "I love you, too, Mom."

She turned to Will. "When do you think he'll be back on his feet?"

Will shook his head, which Percy thought was a strange response, seeing as it wasn't a yes or no question. "I can't say for sure, but if he takes well to the ambrosia, no more than two weeks."

Sally nodded and looked back to Percy again with that same sad smile. "And you'll be back home when you are?"

Percy nodded, because this was a yes or no question. "Of course."

Sally hesitated like she wanted to do something, but then stood up. "You have a lot to do, and I'm late for work," She said with a deep breath, not taking her eyes off of Percy. "I'll come back whenever I can to see you, okay?"

 _Okay. Exclamation. Used to express assent, agreement, or acceptance._

"Okay," Percy said.

She did the weird hesitation thing again and walked herself up the hill and out of camp.

"We do have a lot to do," Will said once Sally had been lost from view, and Percy knew it would be a miserable no more than two weeks.


	8. Rain Man

Percy was up and walking on his own before anyone thought he would be, after only three days. Physically, he was recovering excellently. Mentally... well, mentally he seemed to be having a hard time 'adjusting,' as he called it. Will couldn't understand exactly what it was that he was adjusting to, but he figured if his entire way of thinking was changed, he'd need some time to figure it out, too.

It was obvious that somehow he had acquired a love of reading to an extent that would rival most of the Athena kids, or maybe even Athena herself. Cabin 3 turned into a library, hosting what seemed like every book, and Annabeth was sure that Percy had read every book in there, probably more than once.

She couldn't say she was happy for him. She didn't know why. That was a lie; she did know why. She was jealous. And surely she had a right to be! Percy hadn't been stupid or anything, like some people thought, but she had always been 'the smart one.' That was her identity in almost any group she was in. And now Percy had the nerve to take that away?

She calmed herself, sitting on her bunk with only a reading light on but no book, the rest of the cabin asleep. He didn't mean to take anything. It was in no way his fault that some rare and mysterious brain damage changed him, and it wasn't his fault that he was falling away from being Percy Jackson.

Even though Will never said it, Annabeth was absolutely positive that Percy was somewhere, though be it low down, on the Autism spectrum after that beating that knocked his brain around enough to make him an 'Autistic Savant,' as she'd read it called.

Will didn't want to tell Percy about the Autism part, but he already knew. He knew everything, it felt like, or if he didn't, he figured it out. He felt like some mix between Sherlock Holmes and Rain Man. He knew both characters intimately now, he thought, glancing over to where he had placed them on his floor despite not being able to see them for the dark.

Percy sighed. His brain was too awake to sleep. It was some time past midnight, he knew, as he had finished a book of Edward Page Mitchell's stories at exactly 11:57. He smiled thinking of how close he was to the origins of sci-fi. Personally, he accredited Mitchell with the founding of some of the staples of the genre from time travel to dystopia to aliens. Next on his list was Sophie's World, if he could get a hold of it. He wanted to read that in the original Norwegian, so he would need to take a look at an English to Norwegian dictionary first.

He closed his eyes but they didn't want to be closed. They burned despite his exhaustion. He turned around and thought casually of whether he truly existed in that moment, whether he could control his fate or if there even was fate (if it was just an illusion then who did he see cutting the yarn when he was twelve?). Just casually.

He swallowed those things down and thought of himself. Why was he like this? How did it feel like so long since he had woken up but like he had had no time at all in his own mind? That one was easy enough; because of his photographic memory. He had more memories from the past week than he probably had from the rest of his life combined. He thought to the 'disproof' of photographic memories and snorted. He wanted to meet the theorists. He thought also of how short term memory was supposed only to consist of seven plus/minus two items at a time, only brought in through the episodic buffer of Baddeley and Hitch's working memory model, expanded from Shiffrin and Atkinson's multi-store model of memory, and how both claimed that long term memory was unlimited. So he would never stop remembering.

He wanted to stop remembering. Just for a little bit. His mind was getting sore. He wanted, no, needed a break. He couldn't even find peace in sleep, it seemed. Or maybe sleep just couldn't find him.

At breakfast the morning after that, Percy showed up late after most people had already cleared off, as he had gotten into the habit of doing since he regained the ability to move on his own. Annabeth had noticed this trend and today waited at the pavilion for him to arrive before getting a plate and sitting next to him.

"There used to be rules about who sits where." Percy smirked without looking at Annabeth.

"That's true," She said, careful of her words. She scooted towards him, to which he moved even further away, putting over a foot of space between them.

"Too close," Percy said to his single regularly coloured pancake. Annabeth resisted the urge to reach out to him. She had learned that touching him never went over well.

"Sorry," She said instead.

"The waning sententious applicability of 'sorry' is opprobrious," Percy rolled his pancake into a burrito and took a bite.

Annabeth's brain freaked out trying to understand what the hell her boyfriend was saying, and when she couldn't, she settled with saying "Yeah" and swallowing her spit a little too loudly. Percy didn't seem to pick up on it.

Annabeth coughed through her bacon over the silence and swallowed. "So, you're doing physical therapy?" She tried to start up a conversation. They had barely talked since the incident.

"Yes," He said with a finality, and continued eating.

"How's it going?"

Percy paused and considered this, squinting his eyes and cocking his head a little. That was the expression Annabeth knew. It gave her something like a smile.

"Well," He decided, nodded to himself, and finished the pancake. He pushed the plate away and replaced it with his head in his arms.

"You need to eat more to gain weight," Annabeth said as blatantly as she could. Was it possible for him to get worse? Or was this amplification a side effect of his lack of sleep, evident by the purple rings around his eyes.

"I know," He said into the sleeve of his sweatshirt.

"Have you been sleeping alright?"

"I suppose if I was able to sleep at all it might be 'alright.'" He mumbled and put his hood up.

"Why aren't you able to sleep?" She felt like she was putting ever more specific commands into a computer.

"I'm thinking too actively for my brainwaves to slow to an unconscious pulse, and perceiving too actively for my thoughts to cease."

"Sounds like hell," Annabeth said honestly.

"No, it's not being able to sleep."

Annabeth sighed. "Can I put your hood on your head?"

"Good idea." Percy then pulled it on himself and became a sweatshirt turtle on the bench.

"Try to sleep."

"Obviously."

Annabeth looked at him sadly. Hope that he might be more normal after some sleep burned holes in her mind like Swiss cheese. Just as she thought he might have fallen asleep, he shifted to look at her and actually locked eyes with her.

"I'll have to go back to school."

"Me too," Annabeth said.

"Are we switching schools?"

"Yeah."

"Good." He put his face back into his fluffy, now too-big sleeve and his breathing slowed.

"Percy?" Annabeth dared ask in a lowered voice after ten minutes. There was no response but his breathing. She let out a breath of her own that she hadn't known she was holding and allowed herself to close some of the gap between them. Not all, she knew. She didn't want him having a panic attack after his girlfriend got closer than half a foot away from him.


End file.
